1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to walking beam engines and, more specifically, a free walking beam engine that generates power through the reciprocating rotary movement of at least one cylindrical housing having an interior piston that is driven therethrough by a controlled temperature differential to effect the rotation of the cylinder to alternately drive a pair of power shafts.
Walking beams have been in use since the early 1900's in oil fields, steam engines, steel fabrication plants, agriculture and other such applications requiring high torque. The walking beam concept previously relied upon the transmission of rotary movement to a linear push/pull motion due to the devices of the prior art being fixed at the power input, power output and pivot points. Conversely, the present invention has no fixed connections and is alternately supported by a pair of pivot clamps that drive their respective power shafts and relies upon the transmission of linear movement (the piston traveling within the cylinder) to rotary motion (the pivot of the revolving cylinder driving the power shaft) to achieve its objectives.
The power input of the present invention is derived from the principles of thermodynamic differential as applied to the “Stirling heat cycle” and the work of inventor Wally Minto. The key principle of a Stirling engine is that a fixed amount of gas is sealed inside a fixed volume of space within the engine. The movement of the piston in the cylinder is manipulated by selectively raising the temperature in a specific portion of the engine with an external heat source to increase the pressure therein thus forcing the piston to move. However, Stirling engines known in the art have two pistons working conjunctively with one another while the present invention has just one piston required for the operation thereof.
Wally Minto's wonder wheel utilized a combination of thermodynamic differential and gravity to generate power by using natural resources. The original wonder wheel comprised four used propane tanks connected to the ends of two lengths of aluminum angle crossed and secured centrally to one another at a pivotal axis in a pinwheel fashion. The opposing tanks are connected to one another with tubing to form a sealed connection and one tank of each connected pair is filled with a low-boiling liquid such as freon or propane. A reservoir containing solar heated water is disposed underneath the wheel in such a manner that the lowermost tank is totally submerged therein during that part of the wheels rotation. The water heats the liquid which then vaporizes and is forced through the tubing into the empty tank on top which then increases in weight as the weight in the lower tank decreases, thereby creating an imbalance with gravity forcing the heavier tank downwards. This cycle continues as long as the heat source remains at a sufficient temperature to vaporize the liquid within the tanks.
The present invention incorporates aspects of a walking beam, the Stirling engine and Wally Minto's wonder wheel to introduce an energy efficient means of generating mechanical energy for direct use or for conversion to electrical energy by utilizing natural resources such as solar-heated water or recovering waste heat as a power input.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other engine devices designed for operating off of power derived from natural resources or recovered waste heat. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,281 issued to M. J. Malik on Sep. 3, 1968.
Another patent was issued to E. Parr as U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,798 on Aug. 29, 1967 and another patent was issued to H. J. Conrad on Aug. 25, 1970 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,215. Another patent was issued on Apr. 11, 1972 to C. McCling as U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,301 and another was issued to W. Hsiao as U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,932 on Feb. 11, 1975. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,745 was issued to J. D. Davoud et al. on Dec. 14, 1976 and still yet another was issued on Nov. 15, 1977 to J. Mulder as U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,382.
Another patent was issued to J. L. Liljequist on Mar. 3, 1981 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,303. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,155 was issued to Gordon Davey on Aug. 9, 1983. Another was issued to J. S. Davey on Oct. 11, 1983 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,456. Another patent was issued to E. Dibrell, et al. On Apr. 30, 1985 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,576 and still yet another was issued on Feb. 17, 1987 to G. M. Benson as U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,988.
G. M. Benson was issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,749 on May 24, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,992 was issued to A. G. Nommensen on Mar. 6, 2001. U.S. Patent Application No. US 2001/0049938 A1 was issued to H. Urasawa et al. on Dec. 13, 2001 and Provisional Specification No. 1361979 was issued to E. H. Cooke-Yarborough on 31 Jul. 1974.